First, the long-awaited hack-and-slash suffers a terribly crippled launch week that leaves thousands of players unable to play the game they waited 12 years for. Then they announce that the game's ballyhooed real-money auction houses have been indefinitely delayed. If the hacking of user accounts becomes widespread, it'll be the ugliest setback yet for a game whose always-online connection was supposed to protect players from the worst realities of PC gaming.

In a statement released tonight, Blizzard has apologised to fans for the technical problems…
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Kotaku has reached out to Blizzard for comment and will update this story as needed.

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If you've run into this kind of thing—or haven't—chime in in the comments.

Update
Here's Blizzard's comment on the account theft detailed above, as well as a rundown of the security measures already in place for Battle.net users:

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Battle.net® Account Security & Diablo® III

We'd like to take a moment to address the recent reports that suggested that Battle.net® and Diablo® III may have been compromised. Historically, the release of a new game — such a World of Warcraft® expansion — will result in an increase in reports of individual account compromises, and that's exactly what we're seeing now with Diablo III. We know how frustrating it can be to become the victim of account theft, and as always, we're dedicated to doing everything we can to help our players keep their Battle.net accounts safe — and we appreciate everyone who's doing their part to help protect their accounts as well. You can read about ways to help keep your account secure, along with some of the internal and external measures we have in place to help us achieve our security goals, at our account security website here: www.battle.net/security.

We also wanted to reassure you that the Battle.net Authenticator and Battle.net Mobile Authenticator (a free app for iPhone and Android devices) continue to be some of the most effective measures we offer to help players protect themselves against account compromises, and we encourage everyone to take advantage of them. In addition, we also recently introduced a new service called Battle.net SMS Protect™, which allows you to use your text-enabled cell phone to unlock a locked Battle.net account, recover your account name, approve a password reset, or remove a lost Authenticator. Optionally, you can set up the Battle.net SMS Protect system to send you a text message whenever important changes occur on your account.

For more information on the Authenticator, visit http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/battle-net-authenticator-faq

For more on the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator, visit http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/battle-net-mobile-authenticator-faq

For more on Battle.net SMS Protect, visit http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/battlenet-sms-protect

We also have other measures built into Battle.net to help protect players. Occasionally, when Battle.net detects unusual login activity that differs from your normal behavior — such as logging in from an unfamiliar location — we may prompt you for additional information (such as the answer to one of your security questions) and/or require you to perform a password reset through the Battle.net website. World of Warcraft players might be familiar with this security method already, and Diablo III players may begin to encounter it as well.

As always, if you think you've been the victim of an account compromise, head to the "Help! I've Been Hacked!" tool at http://us.battle.net/en/security/help for assistance.